No, I was makingtwomistakes. First of all, I should never have kissed Fox.
Secondly, I should havekeptkissing Fox. Now I’d never have another chance.
Fox stood, glancing over atthe door.
“I’m sorry,” he said on theway past, heading toward the bathroom and disappearing around the corner beforeI could say anything else.
Hewas sorry?
I was sorry. I was alsomortified, the tips of my ears burning with shame.
At least my cock had lostall interest. The smallest possible mercy. I wasn’t sure it’d be enough tosave me, but I hoped it might.
All the same, I closed myeyes for two heartbeats as Uncle Vincent walked into the living room, hisfootsteps measured.
I wanted to bury my faceagainst Fox’schest and let him deal with this. It wasn’t what he was here for and I knewthat, but he’d protected me so far. Would he keep doing it?
He had to.
I couldn’t face this onmy own.
“What the hell is this?”Uncle Vincent asked, his voice a low growl.
His eyes went straight tothe pizza box.
I almost laughed despite theringing in my ears. His obsession with how I lived my life was,somehow,going to blind him to the fact that I’d been making out with Fox.
Theverymale privateinvestigator who’d been hired by a company I couldn’t afford to piss off.
I didn’t have animmediate answer. I’d been so busy panicking about getting caught with Fox thatI hadn’t thought about how to excuse breaking one of theotherrules.
Fox’s footsteps coming backfrom the bathroom were such a relief that my knees almost gave out.
“Is there a problem in here?”he asked as he wandered back into the room. A quick glance at the crotch of hisjeans confirmed that he’d managed to get himself under control. The droplets ofwater clinging to his face hinted athow, and I wassuddenly glad I’d been too nervous for anything more than a tiny rush of bloodsouth.
Vincent looked between Fox,me, and the pizza box, clearly trying to decide what to make of the wholesituation. Thankfully, he didn’t seem to have connected the most critical dots,and I was grateful for the fact that Fox was the one person my uncle was waryof.
I’d never seen him defer toanyonebefore I’d met Fox.
“You again,” Vincent said,turning all of his attention on Fox. “Are you feeding my nephew junk?”
Fox raised an eyebrow. EvenIcould tell it was a dangerous look.
“Absolutely,” he said.
Taking the blame for me.
He could have said it was mydecision, that he hadn’t been force-feeding me, but he didn’t. Even thoughhe knew this was a stupid conversation to be having between three adults.
This was the first timeI’drealized it wasa stupid conversation. Why had I been following this rule for years?
Fox stared Uncle Vincentdown, and I’dnever seen anyone else dothat, either. Uncle Vincent was a big man, talland broad, with a big voice and a personality that filled a room. I’d always toldmyself that was why he was so successful, why people justdidthings for him.
But Fox wasn’t doing thingsfor him. Fox was doing things forme.
Vincent looked away. Whichmade this the second time he’d backed down while Fox was around.
“I need to talk to Quinn,”Uncle Vincent said. “Alone.”
